Why Is College Hella Wasteful?

There are people who are both book smart and hardworking, down to earth people who are pleasant to be around--and, most importantly, who can work efficiently and well with others. I've learned these are people who vacillate equally between their right and left brains--those open-minded to various ways of thinking.

I worked my ass off in school, but I was addicted to the enrichment aspect of the process; I was genuinely interested in most of the classes I took. I managed a summa cum laude in undergrad and earned my Ph.D. at a top-tier institution just before I turned 24. I worked two jobs to pay my tuition in undergrad and, thank God, won fellowships for the rest of process. Did it put me ahead? Yes, but not by much, and strangely it left me embittered. Why? Because I saw people who demonstrably did not belong in a university setting get their degrees because their daddies were Daddy Warbucks McCashmen.

The fact is, most traditional college students--even those in non-vocational fields, see the university as a place to hang out, get drunk, and party. Once they have that 2.5 GPA degree in hand, then they can move on and "make money." Some of these people--and this is not a lie--can't write on a seventh grade level. But the university woos them to stay because they (the dumbass students/parents) hemorrhage money. The money, in turn, is used for superficial things to attract the lowest-common-denominator, not to improve the educational process.

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Originally Posted by Crafter

There are people who are both book smart and hardworking, down to earth people who are pleasant to be around--and, most importantly, who can work efficiently and well with others. I've learned these are people who vacillate equally between their right and left brains--those open-minded to various ways of thinking.

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In other words, they are followers who need processes to follow. You are just kinder in your wording than I am/was.

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Originally Posted by Crafter

I worked my ass off in school, but I was addicted to the enrichment aspect of the process;

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This is a whole different animal. Needing to study and wanting to get everything out of a course you can are pretty far apart.

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

If you had to study at all in high school or very much in most undergrad majors, you're book smart at best.

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I can't agree with undergrad. I've had more than a couple teachers who just skim the high lights in class. I've had a handful that you will still fail the test even if you ace the homework and labs.

One microprocessor teacher comes to mind. He was really bad about putting coding problems that required knolwedge of code that was either A) in the book ONE time or in the 700 page data sheet for the processor. You'd never saw it just attending class and doing the class work. He'd have about three of those, in the middle of of a few 20 point coding problems. So if you didn't read the book, that would be two letter grades, right out the window.

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Originally Posted by Fe 26

I can't agree with undergrad. I've had more than a couple teachers who just skim the high lights in class. I've had a handful that you will still fail the test even if you ace the homework and labs.

One microprocessor teacher comes to mind. He was really bad about putting coding problems that required knolwedge of code that was either A) in the book ONE time or in the 700 page data sheet for the processor. You'd never saw it just attending class and doing the class work. He'd have about three of those, in the middle of of a few 20 point coding problems. So if you didn't read the book, that would be two letter grades, right out the window.

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I didn't say you shouldn't read the book. How the fuck would a language major do anything without reading? Reading the material once and cramming like an idiot are also two different things.

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

You really have no idea how admissions work do you? But yea a few of them actually did get free rides because of their grades.

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Yes, I'm aware that grade point average, MCAT scores, recommendations, extracurricular activities, your state of residence, and other achievements play a significant role in medical school admissions.

Looking back, it was pretty clever of you to try to shift the focus of the discussion from general college education to medicine. That is really what this country needs, a system where all degrees are as stringent as becoming a doctor.

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

I didn't say you shouldn't read the book. How the fuck would a language major do anything without reading? Reading the material once and cramming like an idiot are also two different things.

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Sometimes you just have to cram. If the test requires exact knowledge of something, just understanding how things work is not enough. I had trouble with accounting for that reason. I understood all of it but I could not remember what everything was called and a lot of the test was fill in the blank. Had I just been given balance sheets and charts, I could have aced it without studying. Instead, I would be given blank paper and asked to do everything from scratch. I had more trouble remember all that tedious little crap labels and names for things in accounting than I had with my fundamentals of energy systems class where I had to understand a dozen different motors and their mechanics and calculating power distribution.

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Originally Posted by Fe 26

Yes, I'm aware that grade point average, MCAT scores, recommendations, extracurricular activities, your state of residence, and other achievements play a significant role in medical school admissions.

Looking back, it was pretty clever of you to try to shift the focus of the discussion from general college education to medicine. That is really what this country needs, a system where all degrees are as stringent as becoming a doctor.

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You mentioned doctors, dipshit.

and as I said before, I was talking about pre-med.

Cheeks, how much free time do you actually have?

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Originally Posted by Fe 26

I'm saying that YOU and anyone like you, has the right to be able to go back to college at any point in your life, assuming you have the money or want to take out a loan.

Many people here are saying that you don't. That you should fuck off and go flip burgers. BUT, college should be free for anyone that was study McNerd Pants and never made an academic mistake iin his life.

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I could join up with snooty high IQ societies you've never even heard of, but I don't feel like paying for the tests. I have an IQ higher than pretty much anyone you'll meet in your entire life. Mensa is a bunch of noobs. All my standardized test scores are fucking hilariously high. You're right, I could go to back to college if I wanted to. [/dick waving]

Thing is I don't want to. I currently have other things more important to me than studying for a piece of paper. like waving my dick around on the internet